USS Indiana (BB-1)

USS Indiana underway, ca. 1895–1900
History
Laid down	7 May 1891
Launched	28 February 1893
Commissioned	20 November 1895
Decommissioned	31 January 1919
Fate	Used as target and sunk in 1920; sold for scrap in 1924
General characteristics
Displacement	10,288 tons
Length	350 feet 11 inches
Beam	69 feet 4 inches
Draft	24 feet
Propulsion	two vertical, inverted, triple expansion engines, two screws, 9,000 IHP
Speed	15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	473 officers and enlisted
Armament	four 13-inch guns eight 8-inch guns four 6-inch guns twenty 6-pounders six 1-pounders
Armor	Belt: 18 inches Turrets: 15 inches Decks: 3 inches Conning tower: 10 inches

For other ships with the same name, see USS Indiana.

The first USS Indiana (Battleship No. 1) was the first modern battleship of the United States Navy. She was modeled primarily after the design of Lt. Lewis Nixon, who worked for William Cramp and Sons as its chief naval architect until opening his own shipyard in January of 1895.

She was laid down 7 May 1891, by William Cramp and Sons of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was launched 28 February 1893, sponsored by Miss Jessie Miller (daughter of the Attorney General William H.H. Miller), and commissioned on 20 November 1895, with Captain Robley D. Evans in command.

Following fitting out at Philadelphia Navy Yard, Indiana trained off the coast of New England. This duty continued until the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898, when Indiana formed part of Admiral William Sampson's Squadron. The ten ships sailed south to intercept Pascual Cervera's Spanish squadron, known to be en route to the Caribbean Sea. Indiana took part in bombardment of San Juan on 12 May 1898, and returned to Key West with the squadron to guard Havana, Cuba, on 18 May. After it was discovered that Cervera was at Santiago de Cuba, Sampson joined Winfield Scott Schley there 1 June and took up the blockade.

In late June, Army units arrived and were landed for an assault on Santiago. Cervera saw that his situation was desperate and began his gallant dash out of Santiago 3 July 1898, hoping to outrun the American blockaders. Indiana did not join in the initial chase because of her extreme eastern position on the blockade, but was near the harbor entrance when destroyers Pluton and Furor emerged. In a short time both ships were destroyed by Indiana's guns and those of the other ships. Meanwhile the remaining Spanish vessels were sunk or run ashore, in one of the two major naval engagements of the war.

Indiana returned to her previous pattern of training exercises and fleet maneuvers after the war, and made practice cruises for midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy before decommissioning on 29 December 1903.

The battleship recommissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 9 January 1906. During this phase of her career, Indiana served with the Naval Academy Practice Squadron, sailing to Northern Europe and the Mediterranean. At Queenstown, Ireland, she fired a 21-gun salute on 22 June 1911, in honor of the coronation of King George V. This important work in training the Navy's future leaders ended in 1914 and she decommissioned at Philadelphia on 23 May 1914.

Indiana recommissioned a second time 24 May 1917, and served through World War I as a training ship for gun crews off Tompkinsville, New York, and in the York River of Virginia. She decommissioned at Philadelphia 31 January 1919. On 29 March 1919, she was renamed "Coast Battleship Number 1" so that the name Indiana could be assigned to a newly authorized battleship. She was used as a target in an important series of tests designed to determine the effectiveness of aerial bombs and was sunk in November 1920. Her hulk was sold for scrap 19 March 1924.

References

• Alden, John D. American Steel Navy: A Photographic History of the U.S. Navy from the Introduction of the Steel Hull in 1883 to the Cruise of the Great White Fleet. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989. ISBN 0870212486
• Friedman, Norman. U.S. Battleships: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985. ISBN 0870217151
• Reilly, John C. and Robert L. Scheina. American Battleships 1996-1923: Predreadnought Design and Construction. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1980. ISBN 0870215248

External links

• Navy photographs of Indiana (BB-1)
• Maritimequest USS Indiana BB-1 Photo Gallery
• NavSource Online: Battleship Photo Archive BB-1 USS INDIANA 1891 - Pre Spanish American War

 This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.